So there you go. Liverpool’s 15-game unbeaten run is done, and the reason they might be a bit unsuitable for a proper title bid is exposed and then some. That defence is just too brittle. Anyway, now it’s over to Simon Burnton with Everton v Manchester United. Thanks for reading.
Updated
What a game! What a game! Liverpool looked like they had it won, but in big part thanks to the impact of substitute Ryan Fraser, Bournemouth stormed back with three goals in the last 15 minutes. Liverpool remain in third place, behind Chelsea and Arsenal, while Bournemouth move up to tenth. What a game.
Updated
Full-time: Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
90 mins + 3: My days! Oh my effing days! Brilliant effort from Bournemouth, who have surely won it now. Cook shoots from the edge of the area, Karius can’t hold on and Ake is there, like a young Ian Rush, to smuggle the rebound over the line. Remarkable.
GOAL! Bournemouth 4-3 Liverpool (Ake 90 +3)
What scenes!
Updated
90 mins + 1: Liverpool win a corner, Lovren gets up for the header, nods it down to Origi who controls, spins and shoots, but doesn’t quite get hold of the important bit and it loops over the bar. Then, shortly afterwards, Lallana advances on the edge of the area, shoots left-footed but skews it wide.
90 mins: Both teams pressing for a winner now. And they have five minutes of added time in which to get it.
88 mins: “Could do with Moreno coming on to give us some defensive stability.....” japes Robert Blackwell. I assume.
87 mins: Ooof, nasty one, as Can flings his boot into Fraser’s sternum. Yellow card, unlike Neil Taylor yesterday...
85 mins: Thing is now, like after the first goal, Bournemouth are sitting off a bit again, allowing Liverpool back into the game. They paid for it then...
82 mins: From that corner, Wilshere skews a shot well wide, and is furious with himself. Which is a pretty funny sight.
81 mins: Chaos in the Liverpool defence! Afobe is allowed to break through into space and is clean in on goal, but his shot is just a bit too close to Karius who does well to throw up an arm and batter the ball clear.
79 mins: Extraordinary scenes! Fraser involved again, clipping a cross into the middle from the right and Cook produces some outrageous skill to pluck the ball from the sky, spin and fire into the bottom corner, through a thicket of legs, and level the game. Remarkable!
GOAL! Bournemouth 3-3 Liverpool (Cook 79)
My days!
Updated
76 mins: Quite the impact, Fraser’s had. Bournemouth counter after a Liverpool attack breaks down. Fraser feeds Wilson, whose cross is missed by Afobe, but the ball breaks to Fraser just inside the area and he arrows a shot into the bottom corner, via perhaps a slight flick off Karius’s hand.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-3 Liverpool (Fraser 76)
Now then...
Updated
75 mins: 2005 bantz.
I'd say that was over the line 😌 !! Good effort from Milner #LFC #GhostGoal
— Luis Garcia (@LuchoGarcia14) December 4, 2016
74 mins: Sub for Bournemouth, as Benik Afobe comes on for Dan Gosling.
73 mins: In fact, it was closer to 97%. Boruc must have been twitching.
72 mins: Milner curls over a corner that Boruc catches, but both he and about 90% of the ball went over the goalline. But, that extra 10% means no buzz on the ref’s watch thing, so no goal.
71 mins: Minefield.
Jon Champion's just had to describe a strip club without using the words "strip club".
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) December 4, 2016
70 mins: Fraser has certainly been lively since coming on - he stings the palms of Karius with a rasper of a shot from just inside the area, and he was actually a little lucky that his attempted save didn’t burst through his hands and into the net.
69 mins: And Mane is withdrawn, replaced by the returning - in a couple of senses - Adam Lallana.
68 mins: Henderson wafts his arm somewhere in the direction of Smith, who goes down as if he’s stepped on a landmine. Wilshere’s clipped free-kick is half-cleared, back out to Arter, but he hoofs a terrible shot nearly over the stand.
66 mins: Mane chases a ball down the right but pulls up. The last thing Liverpool need with their forward injury issues at present. He’s trying to run it off, but not moving comfortably at all.
64 mins: A belter puts Liverpool two goals in the lead again. Mane drives down the right, is probably allowed to amble a bit too far for comfort, then lays it back to Can who fairly pings it into the top corner from about 20 yards. No fault of Boruc that time.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-3 Liverpool (Can 64)
What a strike.
Updated
62 mins: Clyne lines up a shot (Clynes up a shot?) from the right corner of the box, but that sails wide, high, and wide again.
60 mins: Bournemouth not exactly pressing that advantage after the goal. Liverpool have been on the attack since, though they haven’t created much. Anyway, here’s Joe Fagin with ‘That’s Livin’ Alright’.
57 mins: Madeley now the man at the centre of everything, as he gives Klopp a firm ticking off for something or other. The Liverpool manager looks baffled, but is having the whole thing explained to him by the fourth official.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-2 Liverpool (Wilson 56)
Wilson slides it right, Karius dives left, game on.
Updated
Penalty Bournemouth!
56 mins: And the first thing Fraser does is get clattered by Milner in the box! No complaints this time, penalty.
54 mins: Actually doesn’t look great for Stanislas, this. He’s being carried off by a couple of physios, although it looked like he turned his ankle, rather than the damage being done by Henderson’s foul. Ryan Fraser comes on for Bournemouth in his place.
53 mins: Ref Madeley has the taste for bookings now - Henderson gets the third yellow in five minutes for clipping the heels of Stanislas.
51 mins: Milner hoys over the cross from the resultant free-kick, but Cook gets his head to the ball and flicks it wide.
50 mins: Milner burst down the left, is taken out by Francis, who tries to get out of a booking by pointing in an animated fashion at the ball. No dice. Yellow card.
49 mins: “How could Divock Origi have been named the worst player in Ligue 1?” wonders Johnathan. “Was it this Divock Origi? Are there multiple Divocks?” Maybe Divock Origi is the Belgian equivalent of Mous(s)a Dembele.
48 mins: Somewhat inevitably, Jack Wilshere has received a booking for dissent. The referee then gives Bournemouth skipper Simon Francis a long talking to, about the behaviour of his troops, one assumes.
46 mins: Bournemouth start the second half in rather more positive fashion, running at the Liverpool defence in a manner they didn’t quite manage to in the first half.
We’re back. Bournemouth have made a change, as Jordon Ibe replaces Josh King.
Liverpool absolutely deserve their 2-0 lead, having been dominant for at least 35 minutes, with Mane and Henderson particularly impressive. But Bournemouth really should have at least had a penalty, after Ake tumbled over Firmino’s leg. Fine margins, this game.
Half-time: Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: A rare misstep by Mane, who tries to jink his way to the byline, but actually jinks the ball over it. Olé!
44 mins: Bournemouth are inching their way back into this, but are still struggling to create much by way of a direct chance. King chips into the area but it’s over a lot of heads, and Karius can claim without too many problems.
42 mins: Arter does brilliantly to spin a couple of times then exchange passes with Wilshere, but he lacks support and eventually Lucas glides in to take the ball off him.
39 mins: Bournemouth still stewing about that non-penalty. Ironic cheers go up when they are given a free-kick shortly after.
37 mins: Huge penalty shout for Bournemouth - Ake skips around Firmino in the area then tumbles. The referee says no, but a closer look at that suggests he should’ve said yes. Bournemouth go mad, and they have every right to do so.
36 mins: And Bournemouth go close. Stanislas speeds through on the right of the box, slides a low cross in which Karius palms straight at Lovren, and the ball nearly rebounds off him and into the net...but goes just wide.
34 mins: Francis tries to lay the ball back to Wilshere as Bournemouth try to create something, but the pass is about two yards away from where it should’ve been and Liverpool counter. They’re not helping themselves.
32 mins: Liverpool are running rings around Bournemouth here. Firmino slices a left-footer from about 25 yards well wide, but not for want of opportunity - Bournemouth stood off him criminally, and just watched him line the effort up.
31 mins: “I’ve seen teams be second to everything but never third. Klopp for leader of the free world!” writes Nick Smith. He needs a Twitter account and significantly more narcissism first.
30 mins: Henderson lollops down the right, booms a cross over that’s too deep for Origi, and Boruc catches, receiving the customary ‘ironic cheers’. It’s cruel old world.
28 mins: Ooof. Can takes a blow to the swingers. Eyes water all round, Can counts to two.
26 mins: Splendidly efficient stuff this, from Liverpool. They’ve dominated the game and taken a couple of early chances, if those chances were rather donated to them by Boruc.
23 mins: Well, having been too reticent about coming out for the first goal, Boruc over-compensates. A ball down the right side of the box looks 60-40 in Origi’s favour, but Boruc charges outside his area anyway, and doesn’t get there in time. Origi takes it quite wide, but has the skill and composure to whip a fine finish into the far corner. Splendid stuff from the young man.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-2 Liverpool (Origi 23)
And another!
Updated
20 mins: Simple goal really. Can plays a ball over the top which Mane chases, out-paces and out-muscles Nathan Ake for, then gets there just before a slightly hesitant Artur Boruc in nets to poke home.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Liverpool (Mane 20)
That was rather inevitable.
Updated
19 mins: This is all very well, but there’s been three goals in 2 mins 43 seconds in Curzon v AFC Wimbledon in the FA Cup. Simon Burnton and his cramping fingers have the last few minutes here.
17 mins: Liverpool make a frightful balls of a free-kick in the corner, as Milner slips it back to Henderson to shoot, but seemingly neglected to warn his captain, who simply watches the ball skuttle past near where he was.
14 mins: One, two, three, four corners on the spin to Liverpool, out on the right and all delivered by Henderson. Three are headed straight back behind by assorted defenders, but the last is eventually smuggled clear.
12 mins: “Are they playing with a Mouldmaster today?” writes Colin Mackay, in reference to Mane being struck on the cranium. Stinger.
10 mins: Oh! What a chance! Clyne makes tracks down the right, then slides a low, perfectly-judged cross to the back post where Origi is waiting to complete the formalities, but he gets his leg all in a tangle and in the end only just even gets a touch on it.
9 mins: King breaks forwards as they try to build something approaching an attack, but Milner spots his chance and puts in a firm, clean-as-a-whistle challenge and heads it off at the pass.
8 mins: Liverpool continue to press hard, but they still cannot split the backline. A clearance welts Mane on the back of the bonce. That’ll sting on a crisp December day.
7 mins: Liverpool pressing Bournemouth back now, although they’re struggling slightly to break through. Firmino tries to find Origi twice - once with a cross, once with a short pass into the area from the left - but both are intercepted.
5 mins: Origi has had a couple of touches but they’ve both more or less bounced off him, like one of those square net things on a frame you used to practice your first touch with when you were a kid. No? Just me? What do you mean you were ‘playing footy in the park with your friends’?
3 mins: Not much has gone down so far...but here comes James Milner, barrelling down the left, then slipping the ball inside to Roberto Firmino, whose slipped through-ball is intercepted.
1 mins: We’re away. Football!
The teams are prepped, pumped and out on the pitch. Bournemouth in their usual red and black striped jerseys, black knickerbockers and black stockings with red trim. The less said about Liverpool’s ‘fire attendant yellow’ number the better.
“Highlight of the game so far for me has been Tyrone Mings getting startled by a sprinkler in the warm-up,” reports Christopher Vaughan. Can only go downhill from here.
Back to the present day, John Lappin is concerned. “Liverpool will miss Courtinho today,” he writes, “but for me the worrying news is the absence of Matip. He’s been immense this season.....it will be interesting to see how the defence copes.”
These two haven’t faced each other much down the years - the games last season were their first in league matches, and before that there was a League Cup tie the previous season. And before that, it’s back to 1968 when Bill Shankly’s Liverpool travelled to the side then known as Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic, who that season would finish 12th in the old Third Division.
Despite Liverpool being second in the first division at the time, the Cherries held them to a 0-0 draw in the first game, and maybe should have won it: Keith East had a goal disallowed in disputed circumstances. “I think looking back on it, that goal should have stood,” Bournemouth full-back David Stocks said last year. “That was a disappointment, in that we had that one big chance to knock Liverpool out of the cup.
“Our game plan had worked well though. We were crucially aware of the threat Liverpool’s wingers Ian Callaghan and Peter Thompson carried. Terry Gulliver and myself, as the two full-backs, worked a lot in the week in the build up to the game, working out ways to get as close to those wingers as possible and preventing them getting crosses into the box. It was pleasing to have done that.”
Alas, Liverpool handed out a hosing in the replay back at Anfield, goals from Tony Hately, Peter Thompson , Roger Hunt and Chris Lawler sealing a 4-1 win. Liverpool went out to West Brom, after two replays, in the quarter-final.
So, no Lallana, only deemed sprightly enough for the bench, while Joel Matip misses out with a groin twang, replaced at the back by Lucas. Phil Coutinho is obviously missing, so Divock Origi starts up top, with Daniel Sturridge still missing. For Bournemouth, Jack Wilshere returns after missing the Arsenal game for obvious reasons, replacing Brad Smith, so that will presumably mean Adam Smith back in defence. Other than that, as you were.
Team news
Bournemouth
Boruc; Adam Smith, Francis, Cook, Ake; Arter, Gosling; Stanislas, Wilshere, King; Wilson. Subs: Pugh, Afobe, Brad Smith, Fraser, Mings, Ibe, Federici.
Liverpool
Karius; Clyne, Lucas, Lovren, Milner; Henderson, Can, Wijnaldum; Firmino, Mane, Origi. Subs: Klavan, Moreno, Lallana, Mignolet, Ejaria, Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold.
Referee: Bobby Madeley (West Yorkshire)
Updated
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to the Adam Lallana derby. If you really, really want to stretch a point, you could say that Lallana’s transfer to Liverpool is the reason these two teams are playing each other in a league fixture. When Liverpool snapped Lallana up from Southampton a few years ago, Bournemouth - where he started his career and who had the foresight to stick a sell-on clause in the deal that took him to St Mary’s - bagged a very tidy £5.75million in the deal. That summer they spent £3million on Callum Wilson, who scored 20 goals, made the loss of Lewis Grabban to Norwich much more palatable and was a big reason for their promotion. They also signed Junior Stanislas, Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman, who all remain at Dean Court (or whatever we’re calling it now) and remain, to various extents, fairly key players.
Of course, that’s not really how things work, and they would not have exactly used the money they got from Lallana to purchase Wilson, plus Grabban’s sale presumably pumped up their financial tyres rather, but it’s quite a nice theory. Lallana might not even be playing today, what with him just coming back from an injury and so on. This we will find out shortly. That’ll be one strand of the old narrative dissolved, anyway.
How about another: the managers. In this season where the managers are probably bigger stars than a lot of the players, Jurgen Klopp and Eddie Howe are among the most feted and highly-thought of. Howe has been tipped to ruin his career at some point with either the England job or taking over from Arsene Wenger when the old boy eventually takes his carriage clock. Klopp is the established title winner who is working on another, and who likes to talk. Sometimes you have to work through things and give it a bit of thought before you work out exactly what he’s talking about, but he’s usually a pretty engaging speaker.
“We are starting our history now because this is our first full season,” he said this week. “History does not always work in your favour anyway. Leicester were champions last season but it is not helping them much this time. If you are still around with a chance of the title with 10 games to play, maybe you have to deal with some pressure but you should still fancy yourselves to win more than lose. My feeling at this stage is that we can win everything. We have nothing to lose in each game, so we might as well go for it.”
Should be goals in this one. Couple of teams who play nice football but who have iffy defences. Step right up and enjoy.
Kick-off: 13.30 GMT
Nick will be here shortly. In the meantime you can read Jürgen Klopp’s warning to any teams hoping to get their hands on Liverpool’s players …
Updated
